Friday, January 25, 2013

In the book, History of San Diego, 1542-1908 by William Ellsworth Smythe, there is a list of doctors who were practicing in San Diego at the time of publication. Among them were nine female doctors and two female osteopaths: Maria B. Averill, Charlotte J. Baker, Alice H. Crandall, Alexis De Borra, Lelia Latta, Eva M. Lewis, Mary E. Hoffman, Anna M.L. Potts, Minnie E. J. Verity, Lena Creswell, and Anna B. Woodhull. This list contained far more female doctors than I would have expected to see for that time!
One of the osteopaths, Lena Creswell, was successful enough to warrant a biographical paragraph in City of San Diego and San Diego County: The Birthplace of California, Volume 2, written by Clarence A. McGrew and published in 1922.
“Dr. Lena Creswell has been prominently identified with the profession of osteopathy in Southern California for the past twenty years. Outside of her profession she has many unusual interests, particularly those of an active outdoor woman.
Dr. Creswell was born near Clarinda, Iowa, on a farm, graduated from high school at Villisca, Iowa, attended the State Western Normal College at Shenandoah, and after graduating taught for two years. She then entered the School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Missouri, graduating, and for two years practiced at Circleville, Ohio. Dr. Creswell came to Southern California with her parents. San Diego decided her in favor of this community, where now for twenty years she has performed her work as a skilled osteopath. Her parents also live here, and her brother, William Creswell, is San Diego sales representative of the Studebaker car.
Dr. Creswell has made some splendid real estate investments and is now building a new bungalow at Illinois and Lincoln. She also has a beach home at Ocean Beach, near the Del Monte Cliffs. She goes to the beach to rest and enjoy her particular hobbies, flowers and the stars. She has always been a great lover of nature, is an enthusiastic golf player, swims and takes part in all other wholesome sports. Dr. Creswell is a charter member of the Business Woman's Club and a member of the Y. W. C. A., the Christian Church and the Amphion Club."